Phalgun Saraf

🇮🇳➡️🇬🇧UK Skilled Worker from India (Trying to share my insights on visa, UK economy, job market, taxation, cost of living)

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

Moved from India to the UK on a Skilled Worker visa (dependent) and nobody told me how messy the transition actually is. New country. New work culture. New rules.
Sharing the real story: job hunt from India, visas, housing, cost of living, UK economy & taxation, and building a life here so you don’t repeat my mistakes. 🇮🇳➡️🇬🇧

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

@woltapp Very disappointed with @Wolt in Copenhagen. Customers seem to be suffering while Wolt and some restaurants appear to be turning a blind eye to food quality issues.I received stale food, raised it with customer support, and was simply refused any meaningful help. @woltdanmark #993

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

It’s almost 12.30 AM at your Dharamshala property and the music hasn’t been stopped yet. Our infant’s health went for a toss on the New Year’s eve when we were subject to gruelling loud noise due to the celebrations at the property. Starting at 8 pm (his usual sleep time), he woke up multiple times due to the windows shaking due to the noise. He was unwell but we were made to change the rooms in the middle of the night as he wasn’t able to sleep. Gross misconduct of your staff was cherry on the top - resort manager not picking my calls, resort staff either being drunk or ignoring our requests to lower the volume, outside guest making a ruckus after being drunk. Disgraceful and shameful experience, well done in ruining our NY

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

@clubmahindra It’s almost 12.30 AM at your Dharamshala property and the music hasn’t been stopped yet. Our infant’s health went for a toss on the New Year’s eve when we were subject to gruelling loud noise due to the celebrations at the property. Starting at 8 pm (his usual sleep time), he woke up multiple times due to the windows shaking due to the noise. He was unwell but we were made to change the rooms in the middle of the night as he wasn’t able to sleep. Gross misconduct of your staff was cherry on the top - resort manager not picking my calls, resort staff either being drunk or ignoring our requests to lower the volume, outside guest making a ruckus after being drunk. Disgraceful and shameful experience, well done in ruining our NY @MahindraRise

[European Sleeper @EuropeanSlpr]

Good news! ✨ From June 2026, #EuropeanSleeper will connect Brussels and Amsterdam with Berne, Stresa on Lago Maggiore, and Milan.

🚆Trains from Brussels/Amsterdam: Mon, Thu, Sat⁠
🚆Trains from Milan: Wed, Fri, Sun
🎟️Ticket sales open early next year

👉https://t.co/DvSftWPLyg

[Ashley Osborne | PRSim | AngelBrics | LEXIT 🇦🇺 @proptechpioneer]

Weakest rental market conditions for 6 years - good for renters, lower rental inflation for landlords and investors.

'Rental demand is 20% lower year on year' - landlord's assuming rents will only go up post the RRA may well be in for a rude shock...

Just showing what we have been seeing for a while.

[Michael A. Arouet @MichaelAArouet]

As there will not be enough grandchildren to inherit real estate in Italy and Spain, it will simply flood the market. A similar picture in Poland, with an honourable mention for South Korea.

People view real estate as a safe investment, yet many properties will become worthless.

Ht @Valen10Francois

[David Turver @7Kiwi]

UK Natural Gas prices plunge to another 12-month low. Yet the energy price cap is going up in January.

[Office for National Statistics (ONS) @ONS]

Today, we’ve released the latest provisional estimates of long-term international migration to the UK in the year ending June 2025.

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

There is still no respite from energy and food inflation, even though gas prices are back to around their Covid lows. Decoupling from gas alone will not be enough; the real need is to balance net zero ambitions with the ongoing cost of living crisis.

[Office for National Statistics (ONS) @ONS]

Overall UK household costs, as measured by the Household Costs Index (HCI), rose by 4.1% in the year to September 2025, an increase from 4.0% in the year to June 2025.

HCIs provide insight into inflation as experienced by different types of households.

[angelo @giaccoangelo]

ah yes, the famous interest rates that depend on your income

???

welcome to the UK

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

@LondonTrafficW1 Excellent.

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: Amazon stock, $AMZN, surges after announcing a new in-house built AI chip which it says is more "cost effective" than Nvidia's.

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

Aesthetically pleasing so certainly deserve credit, and I hope developers also focus on making home ownership more affordable, with meaningful incentives, especially while mortgage rates remain above 4%.

[𝓢𝓪𝓶 🦇 @samofsamshire]

Volume builders like Wyatt homes are leaning into the traditionalist revival. They deserve credit.

But imagine how much easier it would be for them if there was a bonfire of housing regs!

[Phalgun Saraf @phalgunsaraf]

@TfL No incentive to buy an EV.

[Kalshi @Kalshi]

JUST IN: Instagram orders employees to be back in office 5 days per week

[Tom Calver @TomHCalver]

Only four in ten UK households make a net contribution to the state

The richest households contribute £57k, the ninth decile £17k, and the eighth £11k. The poorest decile receives about £24k

1/4

[max tempers @maxtempers]

Author of the @UKandEU immigration estimates below, now projects that we will have NET NEGATIVE migration for 2026, driven by new emigration figures, falling dependent numbers, and proposed ILR changes.

Remarkable stuff under a Lab gov’t.

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

EXCLUSIVE

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been accused of misleading the Cabinet by using claims that there was a black hole in the public finances to justify tax rises during the run up to the Budget

One Cabinet minister told The Times: “Why did Keir and Rachel allow the country to believe for so long that we would break our manifesto by putting up income tax by 2p when they would have known that wasn’t true?

'At no point were the Cabinet told about the reality of the OBR forecasts. Had we been told, we might have been in a position to advise against setting hares running on income tax and giving the public the impression we are casual about our manifesto commitments. The handling of this Budget has been a disaster from start to finish'

Another senior minister said: 'The Treasury’s operation is not exactly cutting edge. The argument about living in uncertain times and needing more headroom makes sense but the way she presented it - by saying there’s a big hole we need to fill - is frustrating. We had this hokey cokey about income taxes going up and then not going up'

Another minister said Starmer and Reeves look 'weak and incompetent' in the wake of the budget but described it as 'par for the course'

The chancellor repeatedly highlighted a downgrade in productivity forecasts in a series of Cabinet meetings as she made the case for raising taxes

It included a meeting on November 4 that was held after a Downing Street press conference which she used to heavily signal that she was preparing to break Labour’s manifesto and raise the basic rate of income tax

Reeves told Cabinet that Britain faces challenges' in the form of tariffs, unstable borrowing costs, inflation and long-term productivity'. She said she “had to respond to the World as it is now, not as she might wish it to be'

Ministers emerged from the meeting convinced that the public finances were in such a dire state that a manifesto-breaking increase in the basic rate of income tax was necessary. 

In fact the Office for Budget Responsibility had already informed her privately that the downgrade in the public finances had been more than offset by higher than expected tax revenues

It told Reeves on October 31 that she had a £4.2billion surplus, but the information was not shared with the Cabinet or the public. Only she and Starmer were aware of the improvement in the forecasts. They abandoned the plans to increase the basic rate of income tax a week later amid concerns about a political backlash

https://t.co/RMZZFy1pb4

[Home Office @ukhomeoffice]

Britain is open for business.

We want to attract the brightest minds and highest earners to drive our economy forward.

High earners and entrepreneurs will be allowed to settle in the UK after three years, instead of the 10-year standard applied to most other migrants.

[Home Office @ukhomeoffice]

As a nation, we'll always take care of those who offer vital contributions.

Doctors, nurses and other skilled frontline public servants will be granted a faster route to permanent settlement in the UK - cutting their wait in half from longer paths to settlement confirmed today.